7 Major Principles

Under IDEA
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF
SPECIAL EDUCATION
TEACHERS
 OUTLINE OF THE 7 MAJOR
PRINCIPLES OF IDEA
 1. Informed Consent
 2. Zero Reject
 3. Free and Appropriate Public School
Education-FAPE
 4. Nondiscriminatory Evaluation
 5. LRE-Least Restrictive Environment
 6. Individualized Education Program
(IEP)
 7. Due Process Safeguards
 Informed Consent
 Before any evaluations, testing,
and placement can be done,
there must be parental
informed consent.
 Informed consent is defined as
the following:
 Informed Consent
 1. The parent has been fully
informed of all information relevant
to the activity for which consent is
sought, in his or her native language,
or other mode of communication.
 Informed Consent
 2. The parent understands and agrees in
writing to the carrying out of the activity
for which his or her consent is sought, and
the consent describes that activity and
lists the records (if any) which will be
released and to whom.
 3. The parent understands that the
gaining of consent is voluntary and may be
revoked at any time
 Zero Reject
 All students have the right to a public
school education and can not be excluded
because of a disability.
 Before IDEA, school officials who felt that
they were not equipped to address the
special needs of particular students would
not accept such students into their
schools.
 Free Appropriate
Public School Education
 All students have the right to a
public school education at no
cost to the parents regardless
of the extent of the disability.
 “Free” is easy to understand
 But what is “Appropriate”?
 Non-Discriminatory
Evaluations
The evaluation for a
suspected disability for a
suspected disability must
be non-discriminatory
 IDEA and Evaluations

 Under IDEA, 5 criteria must

be met in order for an
evaluation for a suspected
disability to be considered a
non discriminatory
evaluation
1. Multidisciplinary Team.
 When considering eligibility
for special education, the
evaluation must be done by
a multi-disciplinary team.
 2. Racial and Culturally
Discriminatory Issues
 All testing materials and
procedures used for the purposes of
evaluation and placement of
children with disabilities must be
selected and administered so as not
to be racially or culturally
discriminatory.
 3. Validity
 All tests and other evaluation
materials have been validated for
the specific purpose for which they
are used.
 Validity-Does the test measure
what it is supposed to measure
 Reliability-Consistency of results
4. Administration by Trained
Personnel
 Tests and other evaluation
materials must be administered by
trained personnel in conformance
with the instructions provided by
their producer.
 5. More than One Criterion
Must be Used
 No single procedure can be used as
the sole criterion for determining
an appropriate educational program
for a child
 6. Native Language
 Tests must be given and reports
must be written in the native
language:
 When doing assessment, all tests
must be given in the child’s native
language and all reports must be
written in the parent’s native
language.
 The Fifth Major Principle
Under IDEA:
Rule: All students in special
Least Restrictive
education Environment
must be placed in the
least restrictive environment:
 Students with disabilities need to
placed in the environment that is
most suited for their educational
needs, or as it was termed: The
Least Restrictive one.
 Definition of LRE

 LRE-The provision in IDEA that

states that students with
disabilities are to be educated with
their non-disabled peers to the
maximum extent appropriate.
 Inclusion

Full Inclusion-An interpretation of the

principle of the LRE advocating that ALL
pupils with disabilities are to be
educated in the general education
classroom. It involves the delivery of
appropriate specialized services to
students with disabilities in a general
education classroom
 Continuum of
Placements under LRE
 Under IDEA, a  Regular Classroom
continuum of  Resource Room
placements,  Separate Class
ranging from the
general classroom  Separate School
to homebound and  Residential Facility
hospital programs,  Home/Hospital
needs to be
developed by
schools.
 Resource Room
 Resource Room- An educational
placement option for students with
disabilities, involving specialized
instruction for a specified time
period during the day to address
the student’s needs. Most of the
student’s day, however, is spent in
the general education classroom.
 Special Education
Classroom
 Special Education Classroom-A
classroom setting under the
supervision of a qualified special
educator that provides specially
designed instruction to meet the
needs of a student with a disability.
 Special Education
Classroom
 Also known as a self-contained
classroom.
 **Self-Contained refers to a type of
classroom
 _____ :______: _____
 8:1:2 means 8 students, 1 teacher,
and 2 aides.
 Special Schools
 Special Schools-A general term applied
to a separate educational placement for
students with disabilities outside of a
general education school.
 96% of students with disabilities
between the ages of 6 to 21 receive their
education in a general education school
building.
 The Sixth Major Principle Under
IDEA:
Individualized Education Programs
 All students in special education
must have an **individualized
education program (IEP)

 **If a student is determined to be

eligible for special education an IEP
will be developed
 IEP
 All students in special education are
required to have an individualized
education program designed to meet
their needs.
 The IEP includes both short-term and
long-term goals, along with how and
where services will be provided.
 **The IEP MUST be written by a TEAM
 Components of an IEP
 1. The child’s Present levels of
educational performance
 2. Measurable annual goals-including
benchmarks (short-term objectives)
 3. An explanation of the extent, if any,
to which the child will NOT participate
with non-disabled children
 Components of an IEP
 4. Related Services- Services necessary
to ensure that students with disabilities
benefit from their educational
experience. Related services include:
 Speech pathology, psychological
services, counseling, physical and
occupational therapy, special
transportation, to name a few
 Components of an IEP
 5. The projected date of the
beginning of related services, and
the frequency, location, and
duration of the related services
 6. Any modifications in the
administration of state or district
wide testing
 Components of an IEP
 7. How the child’s progress towards the
annual goals will be measured and how
the parents will be regularly informed of
their child’s progress
 8. Beginning at age 16, a statement of
needed transition services
 Transition services- Services that assist
the adolescent with a disability to
successfully move from school to post-
school activities
 The Seventh Major Principle
Under IDEA Due Process

 Parents are entitled to due process: All

students and their parents are afforded
due process.
 This means that if a conflict or
disagreement ensues concerning a
student’s eligibility for special education
placement or services, no changes can be
made until the issue has been settled by
mediation or an impartial hearing.
 Mediation & D/P Hearing
 Try Mediation first
 Mediation- A discussion between families
and school districts over a point of
disagreement for the purposes of resolving
the disagreement before a due process
hearing is held.
 Mediation and
Due Process
 IDEA does not require mediation, and
mediation may not be used to deny or
delay the right to a due process hearing
 A due process hearing is an
administrative hearing (similar to a mini
trial) conducted before a person charge
with making an objective decision-The
dues process hearing officer